They Both Die at the End Discussion Part One

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay about writing this post. I’ve had a busier week than I thought I would have. But I’m back!

In this discussion, we are only talking about the first part, so if you have read more, please refrain from mentioning it to avoid spoiling the book for others. Thank you! If you haven’t finished Part One, just know that there will be spoilers ahead!

Welcome to our first discussion of our Book Club! This month my pick is They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera.

I have originally got this book in a little while ago. I also bought this book for my friend’s birthday, and I had waited for him to catch up in reading this book. I had put the book down, while waiting for him to be on the same page as me. I had to restart from the beginning just in case I had missed something, but I also needed a refresher of the book to confidently talk about it with you.

Part One of the book introduces the concept about Death-Cast, and how they end up calling Mateo and Rufus (the two main characters in the book) to warn them that some time in the next twenty four hours their life will end. It is a reminder that they need to make today count, since it is their last day.

We learn that Mateo’s dad has been in a coma for the past two weeks. Rufus’ parents and sister died in a car accident when their car tumbled into the Hudson River. Since the accident Rufus has ended up in foster care. Before Rufus received his call from Death Cast, he is beating his ex girlfriend’s boyfriend. He then makes a vow to myself that he will die being a nice person. He decides to throw himself a funeral so his friends can honour and remember his life. But his funeral is then crashed by the police who try to arrest him for beating up Peck. Rufus then discovers an app called Last Friend and connects with Mateo, who also received his Death-Cast call earlier. Mateo only really has two friends, his Dad, and Lydia. He decides that he doesn’t want to burden with her about him dying some time today. He decides to sign up for Last Friend. He has always wished to be a carefree and outgoing person, but sadly he isn’t. So he hopes that this app is able to help him break out of his shell. The two of them agree to meet each other in real life after talking and connecting with one another.

“Life this day to the fullest, okay?”

-Death Cast

“No matter how we choose to live, we both die at the end.”

-Adam Silvera

So here are my discussion questions for anyone who has read Part One yet.

1. How would you like to spend your last day on earth?
2. If you were to tell anyone about you receiving a call from Death-Cast, who will you tell?
3. Why do you think that Mateo decided not to tell Lydia about him receiving the call from Death-Cast? Who do you think benefited from it? Mateo? Or Lidia?
4. How did this story change the idea of your life and death?
5. Did either Mateo or Rufus’ family relate to your family? If so, how?
6. Would you like to know the exact day you will die, if there was a way of knowing?
7. Have you ever encountered a near death experience? If so, what was it? And how did it change your life?

My Answers

1. I would spend my last day with the people that I love. I would have a cup of tea out of my Papa’s tea pot since that brings me a lot of joy. I would love to throw myself a party, that includes dancing and drinking. If I was scheduled to work, I would call in, teehee! I would get my nails done one last time. I would go out for breakfast, because I love pancakes! I would have pasta for lunch, and then Thai food for dinner, hopefully. I would also write a letter to my favourite people reminding them how much I love them, and give them some advice and wisdom to help them even after my passing. I would also include my favourite memories together.
2. I will tell my parents, sister and my two friends that I had received my call from Death-Cast. I also would write a quick post on my blog site including my acknowledgements and how much I enjoyed reading everyone’s comments, and their positive words of encouragement as well.
3. I think that Mateo decided not to tell Lidia because he didn’t want to burden her with him passing away especially since he was the Godfather to her daughter. I think it was for Mateo’s benefit not to tell her since he didn’t want to be the one that would have to tell her that he will die within the next twenty four hours. Because he couldn’t change the outcome of when he was going to die, he was protecting himself by not having to tell her. Lidia has experienced so much sadness especially since her boyfriend had already passed away.
4. The concept of this story has showed me that life is precious. And that sometimes the people we meet can be the ones that bring out the best of us more than the ones we know and love. It has reminded that we must try to live each day to the fullest, instead of doing mindless things that just kill time, like too much time on our phones, too much aimless scrolling, and not enough living. It really is important and necessary to do things that we love.
5. I wasn’t really able to relate to either Mateo’s and Rufus’ family. Although I have experienced loss of loved ones. The hardest loss that I had faced was my Grandpa. So I was able to relate to that aspect of that.
6. I think I wouldn’t mind knowing when my End Date will be. I like that it would give me time to plan the day and decide how I would like to spend my last day. It would give me a chance to say my goodbyes.
7. I had a near death experience when I got hit by a car three years ago. It was so scary. I’m lucky because I didn’t break anything, and thankfully there was no life altering injuries. It gave me more hope and a reason to not let life pass me by. It really did give me a second chance, and I am so glad for that.

This concludes our first discussion of the book. I look forward to reading your answers, and letting me know what your thoughts are on this book. So far I love this book. I am so excited to read the next book!

Here is the schedule for the book club…

Part One Discussion begins November 7th
Part Two Discussion begins November 14th
Part Three Discussion begins: November 21st
Part Four, plus the book as a whole Discussion begins: November 28th

I am so excited for this, and I hope you are, too!

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Book Club for November 2022

Hey everyone! I hope you are doing well.

It has always been my dream to host and be a part of a book club. And it felt like the other day the universe sent me a sign! I was at work, and I had a customer ask me for suggestions. That gave me such an amazing feeling! I love being able to talk books. And then when I was aimlessly scrolling through my social media apps on the bus back home, I saw a lot of people talk about how they’re hosting or going to a book club. That was when I knew I should pursue this.

I plan on revealing a new book on the third of every month. I am so happy to be able to do this with you.

And for the month of November, I am selecting…

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera.

This book is about how a young man receives a phone call from Death Cast telling him that he is going to die sometime today. He seeks a comrade through an app called The Last Friend where they try to fill today with as much adventure before Death arrives.

The reason why I am selecting this book is firstly it has been on my To Be Read List for over a year now! And I have also wanted to have a mini book club with my friend since I bought this book for his birthday. But then I guess that we both have gotten so busy that we didn’t really get a chance to discuss it, let alone read it.

Another reason why I selected this book is because the holidays can be a challenging for some people. So I like to think that we can all bond over this book together. It is a story that reminds us we can’t experience happiness without sadness. It reminds us that our choices in life impact others, whether or not we realize that. I hope that this book is able to help us make better choices that way we can live our best lives.

I love this book cover. It was done perfectly. I love that if you look closely you can see Death in the shadows, and over the buildings, as well. I also like at the side of the book there are these clocks that are ticking down, sadly ticking down the end of life. At the end of the clocks, Death’s skull is present. I love how much creativity the author put into this book cover.

I plan on having discussions from each part of the story over the month of November, as well, as a final discussion where we can input our ideas and thoughts throughout the novel as a whole. I will come up with a few questions after each part so we can all discuss. I cannot wait to start this journey! I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts of this book.

Mind you, you can read this at your own pace, but when you are discussing in the comment section, please try to post your thoughts based on the part we are currently talking about, to avoid spoiling the ending or other parts about the book for others.

Here is the schedule for the book club…

Part One Discussion begins November 7th
Part Two Discussion begins November 14th
Part Three Discussion begins: November 21st
Part Four, plus the book as a whole Discussion begins: November 28th

I am so excited to finally discuss this with someone. I did read it to part two, but I put the book down so my friend can catch up to me. Unfortunately I did forget somethings, and prefer it to start it from the beginning. But I will be rereading it again so I can remember things for the discussion questions.

I plan on revealing December’s pick on December 3rd. I know that everyone might be bust, because ’tis the season. But feel free to always come back to this page even after the discussions are closed, I don’t mind! I understand that people might not be able to get a copy of the book right away, too but I will be here when you are ready.